pibroch

English

Alternative forms

• piobaireachd

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Scottish Gaelic pìobaireachd (“act of playing the bagpipes”), from pìobaire (“piper”) + -achd (“abstract noun suffix”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpiːbɹɒk/, /ˈpiːbɹɒx/

Noun

pibroch (plural pibroches)

1. A series of musical variations for the bagpipes, usually martial or funerary in nature.
   • 1908, E. G. Murphy, ‘The Doctor's Story’, Australian Ballads & Short Stories, Penguin 2003, p. 279:

     He had heard the stirring pibrochs speed the Gordons in their fights, / It had borne them through the fire zone as they swung up Dargai's heights […]

   • 2012, Hannah Rosefield, ‘Piping Up’, Literary Review, 401:

     Halfway through The Big Music, Kirsty Gunn notes that piobaireachd, a particular form of bagpipe composition, sounds ‘foreign and strange’ to those not raised on it.